Everett Eldon Clark

He's here! You guys. Everett Eldon Clark is here. And he's the best. Sure, he cries and I have only a vague idea what to do about it. But this is LEARNING people. And it turns out it is my favorite kind of learning. All you mamas out there -- I had NO IDEA how much love we would have for this little guy. People tried to tell me, but I just didn't know. I am loving every step of this journey of mamahood. And I feel so so blessed to have this healthy babe in our family now. The nights are long. The confusion is ever prevalent. But it's the best thing, I tell you what. The best thing.

Everett made his debut Friday, Oct. 17th at 8:26 a.m. He weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and measured 19.5 inches. I labored and delivered naturally with about 12 hours labor total -- pushing for only 30 minutes, which I was SO grateful for, since at that point I'd been up all night and was VERY ready for some rest. There is a girl in my ward who was telling me when she was in labor she actually had no idea. "I just went to the hospital because my water broke," she said. When she got there, turns out she was already 10cm dilated and was ready to push. Luckiest. Lady. Ever. Sadly, my labor was a far cry from painless (I would rate the last 2 hours at a 10 on the pain scale -- "worst pain imaginable, nothing else matters," according to the hospital chart. Along with a big old sad face and tears.). But my recovery has been heaven. No pain meds necessary and able to be out and about easily. So while labor for me was intense, and handled with very little poise and composure on my part (read as: lots of moaning and yelling and hunching over my hospital bed), getting through and getting this sweet babe in return makes it all easily worth it.

Ty was really the champion of the whole labor experience, though. At least, he was my champion. Rubbing my back while I was bent over the hospital bed wailing into a pillow. Helping me cope with the pain. Ever vigilant in praise and holding my water jug to my mouth for me in between contractions. And even sticking by my side and helping when time came to push (birth is not cute, guys. Or clean. Especially on no sleep and an empty stomach.) Seriously, I couldn't have done it without him. And it was completely special to go through such a life-changing experience together. Side by side. And kind of the perfect way to start our journey into parenthood together.

So we've just been alternating between hunkering down and enjoying lots of cuddles and figuring out what cries mean what, and getting out into normal life every once in a while these last couple weeks. Not to mention having lots of the sweetest visitors and well wishers. I tell you what -- people are the nicest! The meals and the gifts and the loves. It has made this transition so so much smoother. A sincere thank you to all the insanely kind people who have helped us these last couple weeks. And here's to the adventure ahead.